Confession of a Cold Heart
by Angelic Land
Summary: As Jamie grew up, he stopped believing in Jack Frost and the other four guardians. Jack makes several attempts to get Jamie's attention, but it's a difficult task because he's invisible to those that don't believe.


**(A/N): Another Jamie x Jack one shot. This is kind of a sequel to "Jamie's Christmas Wish", but I fast forwarded the time by a few years (takes place about ten years after the the events in the movie).**

Jamie spent his entire childhood believing in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost; but had only met them once, when he was ten years old. Ever since, the boy couldn't determine whether or not what he saw was real. As the years went by, the memories of the guardians faded from his mind, and he eventually stopped believing.

Jamie was almost twenty years old. He was home from college for a month to spend Christmas with his family. It was already the middle of December, but it still hadn't snowed. He went upstairs to his bedroom to look for a sweater, but ended up finding something he didn't expect to come across.

Jamie opened his closet, rummaging through clothes he never bothered to bring with him to college. He couldn't find the sweater he was looking for, so he knelt down to pull out the boxes at the bottom of the closet. He saw one that was decorated with blue glitter and plastic snowflakes. Jamie opened it, immediately remembering the day on which he thought he met Jack Frost.

Inside the dusty box were drawings of each of the guardians. His main focus seemed to be on Jack. He drew himself and the winter spirit going sledding, having snowball fights, and reading books to each other at night. _Did that really happen? _Jamie's mind began wandering back as far as he could remember, but he could no longer picture Jack Frost's face. He tried hard to recall what inspired him to draw so many pictures of a silver-haired boy, but try as he could, nothing came to mind.

Jamie placed the box on his bed and took out a pad of paper. For some reason, seeing his old doodles made him want to draw. He started sketching a picture of Jack, but once he got to his face, he stopped. _What am I doing? This is nonsense; there's no such thing as Jack Frost! _Discouraged, Jamie shoved the sparkly box underneath his bed and went downstairs to get ready for dinner.

"Couldn't find your Christmas sweater?" The boy's mother asked, as she set the table.

"No," Jamie replied.

"That's odd. I wonder where it went," she replied. "I can buy you another one next time I go to the mall."

Jamie's younger sister, Sophie, appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. "Jamie, you're back!" The twelve-year-old girl ran over to her brother and hugged him.

"I missed you, Sophie," Jamie responded, hugging her back.

The three of them sat down at the table and began eating. "Jamie, do you believe in Santa?", his sister asked.

After his mom kicked him under the table swiftly, he answered: "Yeah. He's definitely real." Jamie's voice was unenthusiastic.

The small family's conversations never went very far. They'd each try to pull the conversation in a different direction; eventually boring each other to death. Jamie finished eating his plate of lasagna and then helped clean the dishes.

Afterwards, he went back up to his room. He pulled out the box again, but this time, something in it had changed. The drawing of Jack he attempted earlier now had a face on it. _That's odd…I could have sworn I'd given up before I got Jack's face right._

Blaming the confusion on his tiredness, Jamie started to get ready for bed by taking a quick shower. He turned the water on and waited for it to warm up. After a minute, he felt the water with his hand, but it was still cold; so he waited another minute. Since the water wasn't warming up, the boy got in anyway and cleaned himself as fast as he could.

By the time Jamie got out, he was shivering. _Must've ran out of hot water again. _Once he dried off, he got dressed in a warm pair of pajamas and got in bed.

As the boy lay there, he stared up at the dark ceiling. He couldn't fall asleep and he couldn't warm himself up; even though he was under several heavy blankets. _Maybe I'm catching a cold. I probably shouldn't have gotten in that cold water. _Eventually, Jamie fell asleep.

In the morning, the boy woke up to an excited little sister jumping up and down on top of his legs. "Jamie! It snowed!" Sophie exclaimed.

Groaning, rubbing the sleep from his eyes; Jamie sat up. His eyes widened when he saw what Sophie was excited about. "Woah! It really did!" He cried, peering out the frosty window a few feet from his bed.

"The forecast predicted we'd only get three to six inches, but to me that looks like almost a foot of snow!" The little girl explained.

Jamie's sister looked at him curiously for a few seconds after seeing him in brighter light. "What are you staring at?" The boy asked.

"You look a little pale. Do you feel alright?" the girl replied.

"Yes, I'm feeling okay, Sophie. I think I'm getting a cold, but it's not a big deal."

She felt Jamie's forehead. "I think you have a fever. I'll go get Mom."

Before the boy even had time to respond, Sophie was already going down the stairs. She came back with her mother and a thermometer.

"Not feeling well?" Jamie's mother asked.

"I'm okay. Just a little bit run down, I think," the boy said, as his mother slipped the thermometer under his tongue.

"You do have a fever, but it's not a bad one. I'll bring you something to drink," she said. "You're going to have to let Jamie rest for today, Sophie; so don't ask him to go out in the snow with you," she added, talking to Sophie.

"In that case…will you come outside and play with me instead, mom?"

Reluctantly, her mother agreed, and the two of them left Jamie's bedroom. Jamie got up and sat by his window. Snow was still falling, but it was graceful and light. Sophie appeared on the front lawn a few minutes later; starting a snowball fight with her mother. Jamie laughed, as Sophie got nailed in the face with a handful of packed snow.

The two girls on the lawn were enjoying themselves. Jamie continued to watch them until his eyes started growing heavy. He closed them every so often, continuously leaving his brown eyes shut longer each time his eyelids pressed together.

Upon hearing the sound of laughter, the young man opened his eyes once more to watch the snowball fight. He couldn't tell if he was just tired, or that his mom had actually been hit by a stray snowball. The compacted ball of snow appeared to hit her square in the back of her head; but Sophie was standing in front of her. The two females stopped throwing snowballs to look around. No one appeared to be nearby, so they looked at each other confusedly; but then laughed and shrugged their shoulders.

Clearly, Jamie wasn't imagining what had happened. He blinked a couple of times, but then felt sleep beginning to take over; as he resumed his half-conscious state.

Later, Sophie came to check on her brother; finding him asleep on his windowsill. She felt his forehead again, immediately going to get her mother.

"His fever is definitely higher than it was this morning," the woman said, quietly. "I think we'd best let him sleep for now."

Sophie took a blanket from Jamie's bed and covered the boy up.

When Jamie woke up, he was still resting at his window. It was already dark outside. _I must have been asleep all afternoon. _The boy stood up and walked towards his bed. _Why am I so dizzy all of a sudden? _He laid down, but didn't feel like napping again.

Seeing his sister and mother play in the snow reminded him of all the fun he used to have when he was still a kid. Jamie reached under his bed for the glittery blue box, but couldn't feel it; as he reached further. Not being able to grab it from on top of his bed, the boy got down on the floor to retrieve it. When he knelt down to look under his bed, the box wasn't there. _I thought I put it right here. Why do I keep forgetting everything? Maybe I'm sicker than I thought._

When he stood up, the box was sitting right on top of his bed. Jamie felt a sharp chill run down his spine. _I'm not imagining this, am I? Something strange is going on. _He sat down on the edge of his bed, rubbing his head. He looked over at the box again, but was afraid to touch it. _Why would someone be messing with me...using that box?_

The room was completely silent. Jamie quickly picked up the box and set it back down on the floor in his closet where he was sure no one could touch it without him noticing. When he turned around, his eyes were drawn to the window. A layer of frosty ice crystals was forming on the glass panes. It appeared to be growing quickly. As Jamie continued to watch it, the ice formation developed into a picture of detailed snowflakes.

The boy's gaze was fixated on the window, as he uttered two words. "Jack Frost."

As soon as the words escaped his lips, a bright face with sparkling blue eyes appeared outside the glass. The window slowly opened, and a cold, silver-haired boy stepped into the dark room.

Jamie couldn't believe what he saw. "J-Jack?" He stuttered. Before he could say anything else, Jack Frost held him in a close embrace. "Jack, you're freezing me," Jamie said, as the winter spirit continued to hold him.

Jack Frost let go of Jamie; tears forming in his vibrant, ice blue eyes. "I missed you so much, Jamie. I can't believe you're all grown up now."

Jamie stood facing Jack. "I'm sorry, Jack. I never meant to stop believing in you." He hugged Jack tightly.

"It's not your fault. When children grow up, they lose the ability to see their guardians. For as long as I've been around, no one has ever been able to make it to adulthood without allowing themselves to forget the truth behind unseen entities of the world. It's truly a miracle that you can see me right now, Jamie." The silver-haired boy smiled.

"If you know what eventually happens to a child's beliefs as he or she grows up, then why did you continue to try to make me believe?" Jamie asked.

Jack began to tear up again. "I couldn't give up, no matter how impossible it seemed. I knew you'd rediscover your ability to believe. I've been trying to drop hints to you for almost ten years."

"Jack, I'm so sorry. I'm glad you never gave up, but I feel terrible that you waited for so long; on just a gamble that I'd be able to see you again. I don't know how to make this up to you," Jamie said, taking the winter spirit's cold hand.

"I couldn't ask for anything more than for you to just believe in me." Jack responded.

"That is the least I could do, Jack. You have my word." Jamie pulled the silver-haired winter guardian into his arms again. "I don't want to let go of you."

"You don't have to, Jamie. I'm not going anywhere," Jack giggled.

"Good, because I'm keeping you."


End file.
